Jesus couple claim miracle win

By Rebecca Fraser
A CRANBOURNE couple has scored a miraculous victory over Casey Council after being told they could continue to conduct weekly prayer meetings in their home.
The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) handed down the decision two weeks ago and the move will allow Reginald and Pyrenne Alphonso to conduct religious gatherings twice a week in their Toirram Crescent home.
In 1992, Mrs Alphonso received a replica of a statue known as The Infant Jesus of Prague, the original of which is believed by some to occasion favourable miracles when placated by prayer.
A VCAT document states that Mrs Alphonso believes her replica has similar powers.
Soon after the replica’s arrival from Sri Lanka, Mrs Alphonso set up a shrine in her lounge room and began conducting prayer meetings in the couple’s home every Friday night.
Those in attendance were invited by personal invitation and word of mouth and the group eventually grew to 60 people sparking nearby neighbours to complain to Casey Council about traffic congestion in the quiet residential street.
A petition from residents was also presented to the council which subsequently ordered the couple to apply for a planning permit to hold religious services.
The application was rejected by the council.
The couple then told the council they would keep the gatherings to 25 people or less and argued that this meant they did not need a planning permit.
However, Casey council would not accept the argument and the matter was taken to VCAT.
Casey planning manager Bob Baggio said the council first became aware of the issue two years ago when neighbours objected and highlighted parking problems in the street.
Mr Baggio said the couple had since reduced the number of people at their weekly prayer meetings to no more than 25 people and because of this VCAT had declared that there was no longer a need for a planning permit.
“This was an unusual case and the complaints received were on the grounds of car parking and on street overflow,” Mr Baggio said.
“It was knocked back on the basis of this but since then their application has been revised,” he said.
Mr Baggio said council officers would now report the VCAT decision to councillors who would then decide whether to take the matter further.
He said council would probably accept the decision and an appeal was unlikely.
This week the Alphonso household declined to speak to the News about their victory claiming they were disappointed with the coverage the issue had received in the metropolitan press.
Mr Alphonso told the daily press that people of all religious backgrounds had come to see the replica.
He also said people from broken families had been reunited, drug addicts had overcome their addictions and sick people had been cured after praying to the replica.